More than fifty years of an armed struggle for independence from Spain might be coming to an end in the Basque Country. Matthew Cassel and Olivia Dehez look at what the future holds for this region.

We are watching Catalonia, we want to learn from them,” said Txutxi Ariznaberetta, one of the leaders of the Basque Independentistak (“Independence”) movement.

“Why don't we have the conditions to organise a referendum in the Basque Country? Well, because we are still trying to get past the armed conflict.”

ithout ever having fired a bullet, Catalan nationalists are moving one step closer to their goal of forming a state independent from Spain. In November, they’ll hold a referendum on this question.

The progress of their independence campaign is being looked at with envy by another nationalist movement in Spain with a much bloodier past.

In the Basque Country, the separatist group ETA waged nearly five decades of an armed struggle for independence. The fight there is Western Europe's last armed conflict, and at the heart of it is one of Western Europe’s oldest languages. The Basque people have an ancient history and nationalists here want self-determination to revive their culture and language, which is spoken by less than one third of the Basque population.

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The conflict began under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco and continued during Spain’s transition to a constitutional monarchy. During the more than 50 years of fighting, more than 1,000 people have been killed, the majority by ETA. But that could all be over.

Recent months have seen ETA renounce the armed struggle and take other steps aimed at initiating a peace process. However, Spain's government still refuses to talk to what it considers a terrorist organisation.

As Basque nationalists continue to push ahead with calls of independence, the impasse has some worried that without a political settlement, this region has not yet overcome its bloody history.

THE CONFLICT

Civil war begins with forces led by General Francisco Franco overthrowing Spanish Republic.

In order to punish Basques for supporting Republicans, Franco calls on allies in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy to bomb Basque town of Guernica killing hundreds of civilians (depicted in famous painting by Pablo Picasso).

1959 Basque students in San Sebastian form a group called “Basque Homeland and Freedom” (ETA) to resist Franco’s authoritarianism.

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n a wall in Madrid’s Museo Reina Sofia hangs one of Pablo Picasso’s most famous paintings. The horror depicted in the disfigured bodies of “Guernica” tells the story of how the conflict in the Basque began.

In April 1937, during the Spanish civil war, General Francisco Franco called on his allies Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy to bomb the Basque town of Guernica as people came from surrounding areas to do their weekly shopping.

The exact number of casualties isn’t known, but most estimates say hundreds were killed in the aerial bombardment, which Franco ordered to punish the Basques for their support of the Republican cause. Two years later, Franco declared victory and became dictator of Spain. The punishment of the Basque people continued.

During his rein, Basque political groups and expressions of Basque culture were strictly prohibited, including speaking the Basque language. One could be beaten by police and even imprisoned for saying kaixo (“hello”) in public.

In the 1950s, a group of Basque students started an underground movement called Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (“Basque Homeland and Freedom”) or ETA in Basque. Within a few years they began arming themselves to resist Franco’s rule.

Former ETA member Karlos Apeztegia described growing up under Franco.

As a kid I saw our culture was forbidden and I thought we couldn’t accept this. I became more politicised as I grew up and decided we needed to organise in order to change the situation,” Apeztegia said.

Franco dies and King Juan Carlos becomes head of state, overseeing the transition to a constitutional monarchy.

New Spanish constitution creates 17 autonomous communities, including the Basque Country. However, for ETA and other nationalists it excludes a majority of their traditional homeland that extends from northern Spain into France.

After Franco’s death in 1975, Spain began its transition to a constitutional monarchy. Seventeen autonomous communities were created across the country, including Catalonia and the Basque Country.

“We are watching Catalonia, we want to learn from them,” said Txutxi Ariznaberetta, one of the leaders of the Basque Independentistak (“Independence”) movement.

“Why don't we have the conditions to organise a referendum in the Basque Country? Well, because we are still trying to get past the armed conflict.”

The conflict began under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco and continued during Spain’s transition to a constitutional monarchy. During the more than 50 years of fighting, more than 1,000 people have been killed, the majority by ETA. But that could all be over.

Recent months have seen ETA renounce the armed struggle and take other steps aimed at initiating a peace process. However, Spain's government still refuses to talk to what it considers a terrorist organisation.

As Basque nationalists continue to push ahead with calls of independence, the impasse has some worried that without a political settlement, this region has not yet overcome its bloody history.

“Antiterrorist Liberation Groups” or GAL and other right-wing paramilitary groups begin carrying out assassinations of ETA and other Basque nationalists. It was later discovered that ruling officials from Spain’s Socialist Party directly supported the paramilitary groups active in this “dirty war”.

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However, many Basques weren’t satisfied that the new region only comprised a portion of their larger historical homeland, a portion of which also extends into southwest France. They also wanted full independence, not semi-autonomy.

While ETA and other nationalists carried on with the armed struggle to further this cause, other nationalists like Joseba Goikoetxea chose a different path.

Goikoetxea had been imprisoned under Franco for his activism with the Basque Nationalist Party. But after his release from prison in 1978, he joined the newly created Basque Police.

His widow, Rosa Rodero, told Al Jazeera that Goikoetxea joined the police as part of his commitment to the Basque homeland.

It was very clear in his mind that he had to fight for the Basque Country. Everything he did was with that goal in mind,” Rodero said.

“And what did he think of ETA? Well, that with assassinations we're not going anywhere.”

ETA carried out its deadliest attack by killing 21 people at a supermarket in Barcelona. The group later apologized for the attack.

In June, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announces his government will initiate talks with ETA.

In December, ETA warns authorities at Madrid airport of a bomb in the parking garage. Airport evacuated except for two immigrants asleep in their cars. Soon after Spanish government cancels talks.

ETA renounced the armed struggle.

Collective of ETA prisoners acknowledges “suffering” armed struggle created, recognizes their imprisonment as legitimate for the first time.

ETA begins process of disarming and putting weapons “out of reach” in front of international observers.

Goikoetxea spent years going after and locking up ETA members, including many of his former comrades.

“In 1993 my husband was taking our son to the school bus. He was waiting at a traffic light, ETA shot a bullet in his neck and killed him,” Rodero said.

The post-Franco period saw deep divisions emerge within Basque society over the question of taking up arms that still exist today.

And the violence wasn’t only from ETA. In the 1980s paramilitary groups emerged, including the notorious “Antiterrorist Liberation Groups,” or GAL, which killed 28 people, including ETA members, other Basque nationalists and civilian. GAL also kidnapped and detained many others in an effort to obtain information and intimidate the nationalist movement. It was later revealed in an investigation by Spain’s Supreme Court that officials from the governing Socialist Party were directly involved in the group’s extrajudicial activities.

But as the fighting dragged on and support for the armed struggle waned, more people came forward demanding that the Basque Country finally put an end to this bloody chapter of its history.

FIGHTING FOR PEACE

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fter a number of failed ceasefire attempts by ETA, chances for a lasting peace reached a new high following the 2004 elections when the Socialist Party (PSOE) returned to office with Jose Luis Zapatero at the lead. He promised progressive economic reforms and he withdrew Spanish troops from the US-led war in Iraq. And in 2006, Zapatero shocked the country when he told parliament that his government would commence peace talks with ETA.

Key in Zapatero’s efforts was Jesus Eguiguren, head of the PSOE in the Basque Country. Eguiguren had led covert negotiations with ETA since the 1980s because, he said, “The worse thing that can happen in a society is people getting killed.”

Eguiguren described the pain of losing 19 of his Socialist Party comrades to ETA violence during that time and described his own fears:

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When you left your house in the morning you never knew if you were going to come back at night. At the time they killed someone almost every week.”

“I've been in politics for 30 years,” Eguiguren told Al Jazeera. “Thirty years with a bodyguard, of changing houses, of hiding. But if I had to do it again, I would do the same.”

Eguiguren, who no longer has a bodyguard protecting him, sympathises with the grievances of Basque nationalists, which he said stem from the lack of justice for nearly four decades of Franco’s dictatorship. “Until today, the victims of Francoism haven’t been recognised in Spain.”

There was general optimism that 2006 might finally be the year that peace was reached in the Basque Country. And then on December 30 of that year Spanish authorities received a phone call warning that a bomb would soon go off in the parking garage of Madrid airport.

The airport was quickly evacuated, except for two Ecuadorian immigrants, one a factory worker and the other a construction worker, both sleeping in their cars waiting for friends to arrive in time for the New Year.

The bombing sparked outrage, including by some former ETA members. Frustration also spread in the ranks of the left-wing Abertzale coalition, which shares ETA’s nationalist ideology. It became harder for those on the left to portray themselves as victims of the Spanish state while ETA was killing the working class the left claimed to represent.

“It’s one thing to kill a general under Franco; it’s another thing to kill a construction worker. Because in the end, [ETA] was just killing construction workers,” Eguiguren said.

The airport bombing happened while Madrid was still recovering from the 2004 train bombings by suspected Al Qaida-linked militants that killed 191 people, sparked protests across Spain calling for Zapatero to call off peace talks. Zapatero ramped up police efforts against ETA and peace talks were abandoned.

Then in 2008, the economic crisis devastated Spain and the financial woes topped the agenda. The PSOE lost the 2011 election and the conservative People’s Party (PP) returned to power along with its hardline approach to dealing with ETA.

The Basques are believed to be one of the people of Western Europe. Their culture is very much tied to the Basque region’s mountainous landscape.

The Basque Country is home to a number of industries and its economy has faired better than the rest of Spain during recent years of financial turmoil.

The Basque Country is also known for its modern architecture, like the Frank Geary-designed Guggenheim museum in Bilbao.

Basque nationalists from the “Independence” movement want to secede from Spain to protect their culture. At protests they carry flags of other independence movements in Europe, including Catalonia and Scotland.

At night in Basque villages families come out to socialize in the center of town.

Nationalists have long called for amnesty for more than 500 Basque prisoners currently in Spanish and French prisons.

Membership in ETA is illegal according to Spanish law, but pro-ETA graffiti can still be found even as support for the armed struggle wanes

The Basque language was strictly forbidden under 36 years of the Franco dictatorship and today it’s only spoken by less than one-third of the Basque population. But many wishing to revive the language are enrolling their children in Basque schools.

Symbols of the conflict still show across the Basque Country. Right-wing paramilitary groups murdered Karlos Korta during Spain’s “dirty war” against Basque nationalists.

In January, Basque prisoner Arkaitz Bellon died of natural causes after 13 years in prison. His sister Nagore says he didn’t receive adequate healthcare from Spanish authorities.

A sign in a Basque village commemorates ETA member Jose Aranzamendi who was found hanged in his prison cell in 1997.

Basque people commemorate those who fought on the Republican side against General Francisco Franco’s Nationalists during the 1936-39 civil war. When Franco won and came to power, the Basque people faced brutal repression.

For decades, people in Basque villages like Elorrio held protests in the main square every Friday afternoon as a form of solidarity with Basque prisoners.

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We want the terrorist group to confess what they did and admit that they should have never existed,” Llanos said. “And of course they have to ask forgiveness to the victims.”

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Nerea Llanos, General Secretary of the PP in the Basque Country said, “Talking about a peace process is admitting there's been a war, or two camps fighting each other, and that’s not the case.”

Despite the government’s refusal to negotiate, ETA, with its few remaining members being hotly pursued by Spanish authorities and its armed struggle increasingly unpopular, realized it was time to make a change.

In October 2011, ETA released a video in which three of its members, wearing their trademark white masks and Basque berets, announced the group was renouncing the armed struggle once and for all.

Then in December 2013, ETA members in Spanish and French prisons said they acknowledged the “suffering” caused by the group’s actions and also recognised the “legitimacy” of their imprisonment.

And in February this year, ETA gave up some of its weapons in front of international observers as another sign they’re ready for peace.

Former ETA members like Apeztigia admit the group had made “errors” but said the armed struggle was the only option for nationalists in the face of government repression. “This was a form of struggle that at some point was valid,” Apeztigia said.

Apeztigia was released in 2013 after serving more than 21 years in Spanish prisons for his involvement in ETA. He acknowledged the period time for armed struggle in the Basque is over, but added that the political battle isn’t.

“As long as the right to self-determination in the Basque Country isn’t recognised the conflict will continue,” he said.

But many like Eguiguren take solace that the conflict is longer what it was once.

“Do you see war in the street?” Eguiguren said. “The definitive peace has been made. The remaining problems today are the [Basque] prisoners, and the victims. And all the rest is politics.”

A NEW ERA

s the armed conflict has neared its end in recent years, more civil society activists have come to the fore calling for reconciliation between the sides

Outside the City Hall in Bilbao, the Basque Country’s most populous city, human rights lawyer Paul Rios, head of Lokarri, an NGO calling for peace in the Basque Country, said the violence probably hurt the nationalist cause.

“The Catalonian example has to encourage all the people who bet on achieving sovereignty through non-violent means,” Rios said.

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To say it clearly: ETA has tried [the armed struggle] for 50 years, and is the Basque Country today any closer to sovereignty? I don't think so.”

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[The government] is terrified that it won't be prepared for a democratic and political confrontation respective of what the Basque society decides.”

In the past, ETA has said that it before it’s ready to talk to the government it wants it to meet certain demands, like expanding the Basque Country to include the Navarre region, and full amnesty for its jailed and exiled members. Many observers said these demands were insurmountable for initiating a dialogue. And in recent years, ETA has softened its stance, but even with concessions Rios said that both the PP and PSOE have made any dialogue impossible with ETA.

“I sincerely believe that the People’s Party and the government of Spain want peace, but they want peace with certain conditions. And a peace that looks too much like the victory of some and the defeat of others,” Rios said.

“We need a leadership in Spain who admits the costs of a peace process and who says, ‘this is a real opportunity and we need to do something to make it work.’ And this doesn't exist today.”

The main grievance for many in the Basque Country today is around 500 Basque prisoners in Spanish and French prisons. These are issues that Pernando Barrena, spokesperson of the left-wing Basque nationalist Sortu party, said need to still be addressed as part of negotiations. But he added that the government doesn’t want to acknowledge ETA’s gestures so it can continue using the violence as an excuse not to engage with Basque nationalists.

“The government is terrified at the idea of a political normalization when they would no longer able to use the excuse of political violence,” Barrena said.

While a referendum would provide clearer results on Basque public opinion, a recent poll conducted by The University of the Basque Country gave an indication of where this society currently stands. Around one-third said they want an independent Basque state, but more than half said they wanted the ability to decide.

The poll also showed that the overwhelming majority of people in the Basque are ready for the violent conflict to be over, without needing to declare winners or losers.

Since her husband’s killing, Rosa Rodero has become a prominent voice for reconciliation in the Basque. And in November 2013 she publicly embraced a former ETA member as a sign of her conviction to putting the era of violent conflict behind them.

“There has to be reconciliation, there has to be a dialogue. That's how we'll reach peace. And we will go there,” Rodero said.

Rodero looked outside her apartment at a flag hanging on her neighbor’s windowsill in support of the Basque prisoners. Her neighbor's son is in jail for being a member of ETA.

“Sometimes we see each other in the hallway,” Rodero said about her neighbor, smiling that there was no longer the awkwardness there once was. “We say hello. We all live together.”